The king has invisible clothes: The travesty of the Flint water crisis

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Most everyone has heard about the so-called “Flint water crisis.” A water source was changed, corrosivity dislodged the protecting coatings and biofilms that line all municipal water systems, and the taste, appearance and odor caused alarm of its residents.

Coincidentally, a pediatrician treated a child for maladies, ran some tests and concluded the child had been poisoned by lead from the water. Her position was supported by academicians, lawyers, the media and the public at large. More data were gathered, more tests were run, and universities and health officials all proclaimed outrage. Michigan’s emergency manager law was attacked, because the decision to change the water sources had been an economic one to reduce expenses for Flint’s citizens. Racial outrage was decried, because of another coincidence; the majority of the population is poor blacks. It was assumed little public attention had been brought to bear on the tainted water due to the racial and economic makeup of the municipality.

However, little attention was paid to the statistics of the data found here:

Lead in water only accounts for about 20 percent of ingested lead. The rest comes from soils, foods and so forth. Indeed, Flint’s water would normally pass survey tests for lead as recommended by the US EPA (<15 ppb, <10 percent above that level) and so forth.

The state of Michigan is spending countless dollars on free bottled water, food supplements, medical, health and emotional support for the residents, planning and replacing lead water pipes and fixtures, and trying to deal with the dozens of other communities as “bad” or “worse” than Flint was in the first place as documented in the Detroit News (and Bridge Magazine) here:

It is clear from the first graphic that children normally experience elevated blood lead levels in the fall after playing outside, eating fresh vegetables and so forth, with levels falling in the winter as exposure is reduced and lead is naturally excreted.

Further, from regression analysis, it is evident that within a few years, they will have little lead left, if any, because lead has been eliminated from gasoline, paints and childrens’ toys.

It is time for our citizens, legislators and lawyers to take a deep breath, and apply rational thought to what is a primarily emotional issue, not one based in science.

Jamie McGee of Sanford was the Quality Engineering Group Leader, ISO Leader, and Management Representative at the Dow Corning Corporation Midland Plant, where he previously held a variety of positions in Research, Development, and Manufacturing prior to his retirement in 2001. Since then, he has been an independent consultant, working with companies like Boeing, Ford, Lockheed-Martin, MA Anderson Cancer Research Institute, Chevron-Phillips and others.